Small towns ©OCial pounded by job cutbacks Region loses $18.7m in pay WHEN IT comes to pro- vincial job losses com- pared to community popu- - lations, the Hazeltons will be. hit the hardest in the northwest. Already reeling from job losses in. the forest in- dustry, the Hazeltons will lose 45.5 full time equiva- ’ tent provincial employees -over the next three years. ~- The majority of the em- ployees work for the forest service and for various provincial social services - agencies, The news is just about as bad in Houston where the Morice forest district office is to close. That’s to “result in the loss of 51 jobs over three years. Eight provincial civil servants will lose their _jobs in Prince Rupert over . the next three years. When balanced against community population, the coastal city is to be the least affected by the cuts. In Kitimat, 6.25 full time equivalent positions tO. e are to..be cut over the _ are to be cut over the next three-year period. The courthouse is clos- ing there in June as well “as that community’s pro- bation office. Some of those positions will be transferred to Ter- race. Smithers will feel the impact of losing 140 jobs over the three-year period. The great majority of those losses will occur when the Prince Rupert re- gional forest office based there is closed. That’s to happen as of April 1, 2003, the start of the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Forest offices are clos- ing in Stewart and in Dease Lake, which also loses 10 employees with the closure of its highways office, “That's huge for a town the size of Dease Lake,” said Shelley Anderson of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union, “These cammunities come into Terrace to shop. These are the feeders to Terrace.” In Prince George, 225 jobs are to be cut over three years, Not all of these job losses are to take effect this year. Smithers, for instance, will lose 32.5 positions this year and in Prince George, that number is 142, All told, 339.75 provin- cial jobs in the northwest three years. The: government esti- mates an average salary and benefit package of $55,000 per position. This means the north- west is to lose salaries and benefits totalling $18.686 million. Fresh tax cuts arent as visible B.C. RESIDENTS received . ax. break Aan... i. another ermment but it won’t be that noticeable on their take home pay. “’ That’s because of the way a first round of tax cuts was handled in 2001. ~ : Those cuts came into effect- July 1, 2001 but “were made retroactive to Jan. 1, 2001. It. meant people re- ceived double reductions for the last six months of 2001 in order to also re- ceive the reductions for the first six months of the year. So when the second round came in Jan. 1 of this year, the effect was to about equalize the doubled dollar value paid out the last six months of 2001. The goal announced last year by the provincial government was to reduce the provincial income tax tate by an average 25 per cent over 2001 and 2002 ‘as a way. to stimulate the economy. But that’s been criti- cized because the percent- age cuts deliver a higher dollar value for higher in- come earners than for those in the low or middle income tax brackets. ~~ One critic, former NDP official. David Schreck, says .8,00G high income - earners will receive a ‘combined $200 million a year, 14 per cent of the total tax savings benefit. Also effective as of Jan. 1.was a three per cent ‘cut "in corporate taxes. ‘All tald, the reductions - wark out to $2.3 billion for last year and this year. In, terms of, .absolute dollar savings, B. C. resi- dents will have to compare any tax savings against higher payments for pre- scriptions covered under Pharmacare, having to pay for eye exams and redu- cing coverage for chiro- practic, physiotherapy and other services, Where there might be some actual tax dollars savings as of Jan. 1 is in federal income tax reduc- tions. The federal govern- ment, continuing on a pro- gram announced in 2000, increased all tax brackets by three per cent to take inflation into account. It means, for instance, a person in the 22 per cent tax bracket can now earn up to $31,677 in taxable income before moving to the next taxation level. That’s an increase from $30,754 in 2001. As well, the basic per- sonal exemption in 2002 has been increased by $222, from $7,412 in 2001 to $7,634 this year. The spousal exemption rises to $6,482 ‘from $6,293. Here again, taxpayers will have to balance any savings against increases in Canada Pension Plan payments. They went up again as of Jan. 1, 2002. And although Employ- ment Insurance premiums did drop as of Jan. 1, that reduction won’t: make up for the pension plan in- creases, FEDERAL FIREARMS LICENCE P.A.L. Class begins Monday, January 26th 6-9 p.m. 3406 Eby St Call John to register 250- 635-6542 Tee \, CLASS SIZE LIMITED y, fe 1 The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - A7 services may be spun off to new regional entity By JENNIFER LANG GOVERNMENT employees and services at Terrace’s Ministry of Children and Family Develop- ment office have so far been spared the axe. Children and Family Develop- ment minister Gordon Hogg told the Terrace Standard Friday no layoffs have been announced for Terrace, But he did say the ministry will be moving ta a regional govern- ance model with services like child protection or even adoptions tun by the private sector. “We want societies and agen- cies to become more involved in the delivery of services,” he said. Ministry staff would then ‘be- ; Fre t « ‘At Regular Pric or lesser value, oe come employees of those local agencies, he said. “We would probably transfer our staff to those agencies.” The ministry faces an overall budget cut of 23 per cent over the next three years. A ministry official said 22 per cent of its employees — or 1,110 full time jobs out of a total of 3,000 — will be cut over the next three years, The ministry has not filled any vacancies ~ around 300 jobs ~ since June and. another 150 em- ployees have opted for early re- tirement. That leaves the ministry with around 600 layoffs over the next three years. ~ More may go by altrition in the meantime, Hogg said. Al the same time, the ministry will reduce the number of children it has in its care. “There would have to be a commensurate re- duction in workload,” he said. It would iry to do that by giving parents more support, so they can keep their children at home, and by making it easier for extended family to care for apprehended children, , In’ the coming weeks, Victoria will announce how the cutbacks will affect community agencies, The regional authorities would look much like the ones estab- lished for health, something that has the executive director of Ter- race and District Community Ser- vices Sociely concerned. Marilyn Lissimore. fears the move will mean regionalization of services, . “They're talking about selting up regional centres,” Lissimore said. “And [ assume when you falk about regional centres, you're talking about Prince George.” TDCSS provides services to people with mental disabilities, including group. homes, but tries to maintain or re-establish con- nections between clients and their families. 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